Edited by Suman Tripathi, Kolla Prakash, Valentina Balas, Sushanta Mohapatra, and Janmenjoy Nayak, Academic Press, 2021, ISBN: 9780323851725 (Paperback), xxix +553 pages, $127.50
This 25-chapter text is the product of some 73 contributors, as edited by five editors. Publicity for the text suggests the book “explains the latest information on the design of new technological solutions for low-power, high-speed efficient biomedical devices, circuits and systems” and is “is ideal for graduate students in biomedical engineering and medical informatics, biomedical engineers, medical device designers, and researchers in signal processing.” After reading the first nine chapters of this text (plus a tenth), this review suggests that this text falls short of the above aspirations. The reasons why will become evident in the chapter reviews below.
Chapter 1, “Carbon-Based Electrodes as a Scaffold for the Electrochemical Sensing of Pharmaceuticals: A Special Case of Immunosuppressant Drugs,” is an acronym-filled review of sensor technology, consisting of 16 pages of text and eight pages of references. Not a usual topic for this type of text, but useful for a small segment of readers. Chapter 2, “Selenium-Based Amorphous Semiconductors and their Biomedical Applications,” reviews the physics of selenium-based nanoparticles and their potential uses against biofilms and possibly cancers. Chapter 3, “Nanodevices in Biomedical Applications,” reviews such items as cochlear implants, pacemakers, and imaging systems, but without any real design information or specifications. Most undergraduate biomedical engineering students could read this chapter and not pick up much new material. Chapter 4, “Analytical Model and Sensitivity Analysis of a Gate Engineered Dielectric Modulated Double Gate MOSFET Based Biosensor,” is a heavily math-based analysis of a proposed new biosensor, however applications are missing. Chapter 5, “Design and Development of AlGaN/GaN HEMT for Bio-Sensing Applications for the Detection of Cancers, Tumors and Kidney Malfunctioning,” unfortunately this chapter only proposes uses, rather than illuminating them.
Chapter 6, “Preprocessing of the Electrocardiogram Signal for a Patient Parameter Monitoring System,” gives an overview of cleaning up an electrocardiogram (ECG) signal, without giving any specifications of typical bandwidths, real examples of ECGs and leads, etc. We are told (page 115) that “there has been an exponential increase in the number of deaths from related to cardiovascular disease (CVD), that is, one-third of the world population is affected by it every year.” And, “…85% of the deaths can be attributed to heart strokes. So timely detection of CVD is of great importance (where the first hour is the crucial hour).” In a section on “Artifacts associated with electrocardiogram signals” (page 119) we are also informed that “these signals are very low frequency signals (around 1 KHz) and their amplitudes range in some microvolts.” We are presented (page 117, Figure 6.1) with a MATLAB-simulated ECG signal with an approximately 5-mV QRS complex, even though 3 is the normal outer bound of normal… Chapter 7, “A Study on Sleep Stage Classification Based on a Single Channel EEG Signal,” is also of uncertain value. For example, we are informed (page 135) “The sleep stage classification performed by an expert is less than 90%,” using a 20-year old reference, and without bothering to define how 100% is determined! The crux of the chapter, after a review of some of the analysis techniques used, is a table in which the “Accuracy” (not defined) of the method is presented. The table also includes a column labeled “Channel,” without the authors ever noting in the text what a “Channel” is in terms of EEG signals. Chapter 8, “Implementation of Ultra Low-Power Electronics for Biomedical Applications,” is a brief listing and discussion of a minor set of electronics and sensor technologies. We are informed in the introduction that various health monitoring systems “make sure that the patient’s mental and physical condition is continuously monitored by detecting and transferring capacity such as heartbeat, electrocardiogram, body temperature, respiration rate and blood pressure” (!). We are informed (page 165) that “Electroencephalography (EEG) is one of the smallest intrusive implementations of anode or cathode plates that archives the mechanical energy produced by corresponding movement of bulky population of nerve cells inside the mind through plates fixed into the cranium surface.” The reader is also told (page 173) “Therefore, wireless systems can help a patient track the status of their own health and also their families using cellular systems or patent ductus arteriosus connected to implantable devices or wearable sensors in real time” (!!).
As you, the reader may infer, there were several problems with the text up to this point. This reviewer next tried Chapter 9, “Sensors and their Application.” Terms such as “Everything in the world needs to be smart” (page 177) and “Innovation reaches its extreme level: it can see in healthcare” (page 178) did not contribute to the superficial discussion of sensors. Maybe Chapter 15, “Fingerprint-based Smart Medical Emergency First Aid Kit Using IoT”? The premise here is that a fingerprint-based system might be developed to say, identify a vehicular accident victim, who does not have an identity card on their person, such that their prior medical record might be accessed as needed post-accident. Not recommended. Other chapters were not reviewed as there were too many difficulties with the ten reviewed.
Not recommended for graduates, or undergraduates.
—Review by Paul H. King Vanderbilt University